Ensemble staff to form two new studios

Ensemble Studios has closed its doors for the final time but revealed that employees will continue to work on many of the developers' mainstay titles as former staff form two new studios.

Last September, Microsoft announced its plans to close the internal developer behind Age of Empires as soon as its latest title, Halo Wars, was complete.

Ensemble's Bruce Shelley echoed comments made by Jason Pace, lead producer for Halo Wars, who said staff from the developer would be helping to "support the title moving forward".

"One of the new companies being started by Ensemble Studios employees will be picking up support for Ensemble Studios Online (and Halo Wars)," commented Shelly in his final blog post on the developer's website.

"We have a lot to be proud of and new opportunities are beckoning," he said, adding: "There are at least two new studios being formed by Ensemble Studios employees and I expect both to do very well."

"There were a lot of outstanding game developers here and it will be interesting to see how and what they do, both individually and as new groups, in the years ahead."

"On behalf of everyone at Ensemble Studios, past and present, thanks for your support over the years. Your feedback on our games made the next version better. Buying legitimate copies made it possible for us to keep making them. Thanks also to those who wrote us to express regrets about the end of our studio and even the end of this blog."